John Oliver has some good news, but mostly bad news, about America's hackable paperless voting machines

John Oliver on voting machines
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Last Week Tonight)

"Election Day is this Tuesday — yes, there are elections this Tuesday," John Oliver reminded America on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. "But before you vote — which you absolutely should — it may be worth asking: How much do you trust the system that counts your ballots? Because the truth is, many of us don't know the first thing about how our votes get counted," and "it's not unreasonable to have some questions about out election security."

"We now know that in 2016, Russian hackers targeted election systems in all 50 states," and though they wanted voter registration data back then, America's aging voting machines are increasingly vulnerable to hacking, Oliver said. He explained how some voting systems are more problematic than others, and ran through some of the vulnerabilities of electronic voting machines.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.